Posted by ms. b. on January 27, 2001, at 14:27:12
In reply to effexor and nightmares, posted by dreamer on January 26, 2001, at 20:51:23
Dreamer,
Yeah, I'm on 300 mg Effexor XR, and my dreams have been very long, involved, Cecil B. DeMille epics. Seem like they go on all night. Some have been VERY disturbing, but not all, many with images that are just impossible to get out of my head.I try to balance some of this disturbing dream stuff with the fact that before the Effexor, I was on Zoloft 200 mg/day, and I slept very fitfully. Most nights, I would fall asleep for 2 or 3 hours, after reading to my daughter in our evening snuggle, then get up, and stay awake till 2 or 3 am, then get a few more hours before getting up and getting her ready for school. My pdoc says I wasn't getting very much, if any, REM sleep, which is not good. She says you need at least 5 - 6 hours in a row to get the REM.
So now at least I'm dreaming...
However, a friend gave me a 10 mg of Ambien, because I'm going thru a breakup and again not sleeping enough, or grabbing a few hours whenever I can, but tending to stay up till 4 or 5 in the am (obsessively reading the Dr. Bob site!). She says the 10 mgs should last me a while, she just chews a little off the pill, and it helps her right away. Sometimes she says she only has to lick it a little, and it does the trick! So if you're not sleeping well, the Ambien might be good to try, just take the minumum.
Anyway, I nibbled a little Ambien last night (well, at 4:35 am), and it did me good. From what I've heard, one can develop dependence on it, but I only know this from the therapist and the pdoc, not from personal experience. If you're already in the depressive phase of BP-II and use too much of it, like you need it every night, it can deepen the depression. My bi-polar ex went through this a few months ago, taking Ambien to sleep because he was in a hypomanic phase. He got more depressed than I'd ever seen him, and I was afraid I'd have to take him to the hospital so he didn't hurt himself. He got off it right away when he heard this was only exacerbating the depression, and is now on Neurontin, and he sleeps well at night now without any Ambien. He swore he'd never take any again.
Perhaps Xanax to help you sleep, then?
Anyway, sorry to run on, hope this helps, and try not to get too disturbed about the nightmares. Just think of them as dreams with a twist (?). Perhaps if you wrote them down you could determine a pattern of the dream-thoughts and content. It might make a good self-analysis project. I have done this, and realize I've been dreaming a lot about houses (big, impossible structures that I try to get through while pushing a shopping cart filled with groceries, and holding an infant on my hip...) Very nutty stuff.
hang in there,
B.
> can anyone please help?
> starting to enter the depressive phase of bi-polar,and i get such horrific nightmares that put me on edge all day i know its the effexor my doctor said its usuall to get this problem while coming off the drug but it happens while on it especially as i get ill.
> ive heard of ambien is it addictive?
> im kinda messed up right now
>
> dreamer
poster:ms. b.
thread:52655
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010122/msgs/52695.html